Lessons from HubSpot, Salesforce, Gainsight and Other Iconic Brands
"The Uber of this"
"The Salesforce of that"
"It's like Instagram, but for…"
There is no such thing as an original idea anymore – right? Actually, it turns out that the world’s most innovative companies have created so much more than just brand new products and technology. They've created entirely new market categories. The challenge is that successfully building new categories requires a perfect storm of luck and timing.
Or does it? Category Creation is the first and only book on the topic written by executives and marketers actively building new categories. It explains how category creation has become the Holy Grail of marketing, and more importantly, how it can be planned and orchestrated. It's not about luck. You can use the same tactics that other category-defining companies have used to delight customers, employees, and investors. There’s no better strategy that results in faster growth and higher valuations for the company on top.
Author Anthony Kennada, former Chief Marketing Officer at Gainsight, explains how he led Gainsight in creating the “customer success” category, and shares success stories from fellow category-creators like Salesforce, HubSpot and others. It requires much more than just having the best product. You have to start and grow a conversation that doesn’t yet exist, positioning a newly discovered problem in addition to your company and product offerings. The book explains the 7 key principles of category creation, including the importance of creating a community of early adopters who will rally around the problem they all share - especially if someone will lead them.
· Identify the “go” and “no go” signals for category creation in your business
· Activate customers and influencers as brand ambassadors
· Grow a community by investing in live events and experiences
· Prove the impact of category creation investments on growth, customer success, and company culture
Written for entrepreneurs, marketers, and executives from startups to large enterprises, Category Creation is the exclusive playbook for building a category defining brand in the modern economy.
Table of Contents
Foreword xi
About the Author xv
Part I The Long-Term Greed of Category Creation 1
Lessons from Amazon, Ariba, HubSpot, Qualtrics, SaaStr, Salesforce, and others
Chapter 1 Category Creation: The Noble Marketing Strategy That Can Spark a Movement 3
Chapter 2 Why Brand is at the Heart of Category Creation in the Business-to-Human (B2H) Era 19
Chapter 3 The Six Challenges of Creating a Category (and How to Overcome Them) 31
Chapter 4 Special Considerations for Established Companies in Commoditized Markets 47
Part II Seven Principles to Create (and Dominate) a Category 57
Lessons from DocuSign, Drift, G2, Influitive, Marketo, ServiceNow, and others
Chapter 5 Live Your Purpose, Values, and Culture Out Loud 59
Chapter 6 Focus on the People in Your Market - Not Just Your Products 73
Chapter 7 Create a Lifestyle Brand for Your Category 93
Chapter 8 Grow a Community by Doubling Down on Live Events and Experiences 109
Chapter 9 Activate Customers as Brand Ambassadors 131
Chapter 10 Recognize That Analysts Don’t Create Categories, Customers Do 151
Chapter 11 Establish Trust at Scale Through Authentic Executive Communication 169
Part III Proving the Impact of Category Creation on Customers, Investors, and Employees 179
Chapter 12 How to Connect Category Creation Programs to Growth for Executives and Investors 181
Chapter 13 The Intangible Benefits of Category Creation on Customer and Teammate Success 201
Acknowledgments 213
Index 217
